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| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - Zimbabwe |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Poaching |
| Species: |
African Rhino Species |
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However, reports indicate that rhino have become shy and difficult to hunt in these other areas because of heavy poaching. Meanwhile, the Middle Zambezi Valley has a 200 km river frontage that also forms the Zimbabwe-Zambian border. It has a dense black rhino population that has not been hunted for several decades: in many parts of the region, such as the Mana Pools National Park, the rhino have become well accustomed to the presence of humans, both on foot and in vehicles. As a result, both the Valley and its animals are highly vulnerable and difficult to police effectively with the limited finance and manpower available to the Zimbabwean Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management.
It therefore came as no surprise to local conservationists to learn, in January this year, that an armed gang had crossed into Zimbabwe from Zambia and killed three female black rhinos. This marked the beginning of a series of incursions that has so far accounted for 25 animals; in every case the horns have been removed and the rest of the carcase left to rot. Though possibly minimal by the standards of the slaughter elsewhere, the incursions have been deeply worrying to both professional and amateur conservationists: they may well presage a concerted and extremely damaging attack on one of the few viable black rhino populations still left in Africa.
The poachers - who have been armed with hunting rifles - chose the first good rains in several years to make their move. Many tracks had become impassable; tall grass and dense vegetation offered easy concealment; spoor was quickly washed out by heavy rain, making follow-ups difficult or impossible.
Government agencies reacted with commendable speed. All available National Parks staff were immediately drafted into the Valley and deployed on patrols. They were later reinforced by elements of the police and other armed forces. This had the effect of slowing the rate of the incursions - but not of halting them altogether. Early in June, well after the rains had ended, two rhino were killed in one morning by a gang that entered and left Zimbabwe within hours. At the same time another gang was thought to be hiding somewhere within the wildlife area. So far several Zambian nationals have been arrested, together with five heavy-calibre sporting rifles, ammunition, and a quantity of rhino horn. A few weeks ago another poacher was shot and killed in a contact with Parks staff. However, they are mostly small fry: during their trial in Zimbabwe, the Zambians often maintained that they were merely ?porters' and even that they did not know they were in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile several more poachers escaped across the Zambezi: at the time of writing, efforts to persuade the Zambian government to return them for trial, and to move against people believed to be behind the poaching outbreak, have failed to produce visible results.
The ultimate answer - an end to the international rhino horn trade and a halt to its use in the Yemen and the Far East - seems to lie a long way off. It is at least likely that the Zimbabwean horn is travelling northwards through Africa and ending up as djambia-handles in the Yemen: but a Far Eastern connection cannot be ruled out. Members of at least one foreign embassy have approached Zimbabwean parks staff for rhino horn, which indicates that the potential for illicit trade already exists within the country.
Thus the Department of National Parks is thrown back on the admittedly unsatisfactory need to combat poaching on the ground. Historically the Valley has been lightly manned and the Department has, to some extent, relied on the presence of safari hunters and tourists in many areas to deter poaching incursions. But the hunting season lasts only from April to September; and it is unrealistic to expect that the police and armed forces now deployed will be able to remain in the Valley for an indefinite period.
The Zimbabwean government has announced its intention of reinforcing the Parks presence in the Zambezi Valley and of creating specialised anti-poaching units to cover the region. However, as the country is still recovering from three years of drought and a global recession, and still has to devote a lot of time and effort to combatting dissident activities in the troubled hmtabeleland province, it may be unrealistic to expect overnight results.
One part-answer, which may ease the financial strain, may lie in the provision of equipment such as four-wheel-drive vehicles, radios, weapons and camping gear by outside agencies. SAVE, of New York, has already made moves to help in this regard; and the local Zambezi Society has offered to initiate a co-ordinated fund and equipmentraising campaign in tandem with the Zimbabwean Wildlife Society and the National Conservation Trust.
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Rhino poaching in Zimbabwe
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